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THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMP^^-'^'^^:^'-^^^ 

LETTER FROM UON. ALFffi^l? ILf? 



[ From the i.^^chester ^'Democrat and American " of Jan. 15, 1861. ] 

The following letter from the Hon. Alfred Ely, in reply to one 
addressed to him by Aaron ERiCKt^ON, Esq., urging a support of the 
Crittenden proposition, will he read with interest and satisfaction by the 
people of this district. Mr. Ely states his objections to that proposition 
with frankness, and urges str-.ng reasons against its adoption. He 
discusses the whole question of the impending revolution with ability, 
and sums up by stating the true reason why it has made such rapid 
strides during the last sixty days. It was directly aided by the most' 
intiueutial men in the Federal Government, and, until within, a few 
days, has met with no check from that quarter. ■ 

We need scarcely commend the letter to the attention ot our readers. 
The absorbing interest of the subject will secure for it a general and 
attentive perusal : 

Washington, Jannary 7, 1861. 

Dear Sir : Your letter 'of the 24th ultiiflio has received froni' rrie 
that careful considei'ation due alike to the isource from which it eniaii- 
atecl, and the importance of the subject to which it relates, lam not 
willing to admit that any one of my constituents feels a deeper soli- 
citude for the preservation of our revered Uni6n than I do. Never- 
theless, I find it impossible to concur fully with you as to the course; 
which should be adopted by the Republicans in Congress, with a vieW' 
to averting the dangers of dissolution, which now threaten us. "^ 

It is my sincere belief tliat the revolutionary moveirnent, which" 
has progressed with such fearful strides in certain fSoothern States'^ 
during the last sixty days, owes much of its present head-way to the 
fatal mistake made by our Federal Executive, and concurred in by 
many Union-loving men, of treating it, in its inception, as a disorder 
to be yielded to, and pallitated by indulgence and concession, instead 
of being met by unequivocal exhibition of a firm and resolute purpose 
to maintain the authority of the Constitution and laws against all 
attempts at forcible resistance whatsoever or by whomsoever made. 

I do not believe that this revolutionary movement can now be, or 
ever could haye been, arrested bm-oncessions from the North.' 'It was 
86t oil foot, and has been pushecoorward by men who have lone been 
anxious for a dissolution of the Union, and who have been seeking for 
a pretext and a suitable occasion to make the attempt they are now 
making to sever its bonds. 

They ask no concessions, and will accept none. They give'*iii^^ 
plainly to understand that no concessions we could propose would ini-(^' 
duce them to pause a moment in the mad career of rebellion and*'- 
treason in which they have embarked. ' n-i\ t/j- hiM 

I fully concur with you as to the importance of preventiiig;i^ possi- 
ble, the "conservative border States of the South" from joining in 
this secession movement. The people of these States are more deepljt:. 



2 ^x?^z^ 

interested in the preservation of the Union than any other section of 
our common country ; and^I believe, the reflecting portion of them 
duly appreciate their condition in this respect. Moreover, they are 
in a position to exert a more salutary influence for its preservation, if 
they will. 

In the present crisis, it is scarcely too much to say, that they liold 
the fate of this Union in their liands. 

The late Presidential election demonstrated that the Union men are 
in a decided majority in all these border slave States, even if we reckon 
as such only those who voted against Breckinridge and Lane. 

I trust, however, that only a small proportion of those who voted 
that ticket in those States are at heart desirous of breaking up the 
Union. But how has this open rebellion against the Constitution and 
laws been met by those who professed, in the Presidential, canvass, 
pre-eminent fidelity and devotion to the Union ? From whom should 
it have received a more emphatic rebuke than from those who tri- 
umphed in those border States, in that canvass, under the significant 
motto of '' The Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the 
laws?" And yet, how has their influence been exerted in this crisis? 
Strong in numbers — strong in wealth and intelligence — strong in .the 
moral power of their position, they could have overawed the I'evolu- 
ti^nary movement in the beginning of it, if they had boldly stood up 
to their patriotic motto. 

. But, instead of this, we have seen them timidly succumb to an in- 
solent and audacious minority of their own section, intent upon their 
ruin — ceasing to demand " enforcement of the laws," as soon as any- 
body threatened to resist them — and giving encouragement to rebel- 
lion and treason, by insisting that they shall not be opposed ; and 
some of them even threatening to join the rebellion themselves, ^unless 
unreasonable concessions, never before thought of, are made, in the 
form of radical modifications of tlie Constitution. 

. If thei!^e (border States could be attached more firmly to the Union 
by any coiicessions within the bounds of reason, any that could be 
made withioutanabandoment of the fundamental principles whicli the 
pepple of the free States liave so recently assented to by an emphatic 
voice, no one would be more ready than I am to grant them. For 
instance, I would, not onlf consent to but advise the repeal of all laws 
enacted by any ^f the free States to obstruct citizens of slave States in 
th!?,«x(jrcise of their constitutional riadits of reclaiming fugitives from 
l^bor;, .especially if th?i fugitive slave^t were so modified as to guard 
against tshe iLseof \t as an instrument for kidnapping free men. If 
any ^dditionalj gtiiarantiees are required that the Federal power shall 
never be exerted to abolish slavery in States where it now exists, or to 
interfere in any way with the exclusive right of the people of those 
States to ftia,ivJ.geth^ir,dQmi^sti(j institutions : in ..their own.isiay, X p^rO.: 
seeiQqrPtOPpHQcis ,t6 giyingjjbhemi; ,1 iiiH!T.*nr i; •}^]\i\\ .1; irrlt ::■•>: 

But we have no indications that atiy concessions, short of a consti- 
tutiq^i^l igu.i>rs^Hty i^f , the right -to .parry slavery into Territories now 
fr^p, would; b^f^t all is^ti^factory to citizens of those States, who are 
d^ma^i^di^g ': concesi^ijQnB, as $,j con4.i|tiou of remaining faithful to the, 
Union. 



The people of the tree States will never consent to an amendment of 
the Constitution which shall make it, in express terms, a slavery- 
extending instrument. The people of the South have no more right 
to demand such a modification of the Constitution than we of the 
North have to demand that it shall be so amended as to make it an 
instrument for abolishing slavery in the States where it now exists. 

Even if the present Congress should propose, and submit to the 
States for their approval, any amendment of the Constitution, by vir- 
tue of which any portion of the free Territory which we now possess 
or may hereafter acquire would be converted into slave Territory, 
the people of the free States would indignantly reject it. 

Now, a few words in reference to the *' Crittenden proposition to ex- 
tend the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific," the rejection of 
which by the Senate Committee of thirteen you " deeply deplore.' 
What is this proposition, but to establish slavery by an express consti- 
tutional sanction and guaranty in every rood of Territory which we 
now own or may hereafter acquire, where there is the remotest possi- 
bility of its ever going? So far as it would affect the Territory which we 
now possess, it might be of little or no practical importance, with the 
exception of a limited tract lying south of Kansas, which we are bound 
by treaties with Indian tribes not to include within the jurisdiction of 
any State. 

New Mexico, (including Arizona,) is the only Territory we now 
possess south of that line. New Mexico has already, by an act of her 
Territorial Legislature, theoretically established slavery within her 
limits. And under the compromise acts of 1850, her people will have 
the right to choose, when they apply for admission into the Union, 
'whether they enter it as a free or slave State. Practically, however, 
it is scarcely possible that negro slavery can ever exist there to any 
considerable extent. All the Territory which we own north of that 
line is now as secure against the introduction of slavery as is the State 
of New York. You will perceive, therefore^, that this Crittenden 
proposition becomes })ractically important, mainly on account of its 
'application to Territory hereafter to be acquired, and that its effect 
would be to give a constitutional sanction to slavery in every foot of 

3 Territory that we can ever acquire. 
It should not be forgotten that the Senate Committee of thirteen did 
not finally reject this Crittenden proposition, until the southern mem- 
bers of that committee had refuseji.to restrict its operation to the Ter-- 
litory we now own. Witliout such a restriction, it is simply a propo- 
sition to establish slavery by an express constitutional sanction in 
every rood of our national Territory, present or prospective, into which 
anybody would ever desire to take it. Practically, it would be just as 
effectual for the extension of slavery as the constitutional recognition 
of the doctrines of the Dred Scott decision. 

There is another serious objection to this proposition. Give a con-^^ 
stitutional sanction of slavery to all future acquisitions of Territory 
south of 3G° W^, and you offer the strongest possible inducements to 
the fillibustering expeditions from the South for the conquest and an- 
nexation of Mexico and Central America. If our G-overnment has 
found it difficult to restrain these fillibustering raids in the absence of 
any such constitutional guaranty, and when those who encouraged and 



set them on foot had to inciir the risk of slavery exclusion, after con- i 
quest and annexation should he accomplished, how mucli more diffi- 
cult would it he with that risk constitutionally provided against. 

1 can conceive of nothing that would so tend to hasten the con- 
summation of that project, which tlie South has so long nursed, of seiz- 
ing all the Territory south of us, on this continent, to the Isthmus of 
Panama, extending slavery over it, and thus securing a permanent 
preponderance of slave States in this Union. 

So far as I have observed, most men who entertain the idea of arrest- 
ing this revolutionary movement by demanding unreasonable conces-' 
sions from the North, deprecate the use of force to overcome resist- 
ance to tlie constituted authorities, or to protecit the federal property 
from unlawful seizure in the rebellious States. '^ 

The employment of force, they say, will lead to collision and civil 
war. But do they suppose that collisicm and civil war wi«ll be ulti- 
mately avertbd by permitting the people of the revolting States to re- 
sist the collection of the Federal revenue— to scfize the Federal custom- 
houses, forts, arsenals, and magazines witliih their limits, and' to ap-' 
pro])riate the public arms and munitions of war to their own use, as'; 
means of overturning the Government? ' 

No Rejjublicans, and few Northern men of any jiarty, admit th 6^' 
r%A^ of a State to secede at' pleasure. And yet, what is this non-re- i 
sistant policy but the strongest possible recognition of that right? If 
treason is not be resisted when it sets the Federal laws at defiance, and 
seizes the Federal pro]»erty in Charleston harbor, at tvliat point is it to 
be resisted ? When it shall have progressed to the Potomac, entered 
the National Metropolis, seized tlie navy yard and arsenal of this 
city, and taken forcible possession of the Capitol, the Treasury, and 
other public buildings liere, is it still to meet no resistance, for fear of 
producing collision and civil war ? It is idle to talk of arresting this 
revolution by palliatives and concessions. Forcible resistance to the 
constituted authorities and laws must be met and overcome by superior 
force, or our Government is already broken up, and the Union ordained 
by our fatliers is merely an incident in the history of the past. ' 

In conclusion, let me add, that the course of our Federal Executive, ■ 
in succuiiibing to an insolent and arrogant band of rebels, retaining 
their open and avowed sympathisers and abettors in his Cabinet, and 
calling upon good and loyal citizens to pacify them by unreasonable 
concessions, has drifted the country into a more alarming Condition 
than when your letter was written. If, as some recent events would 
seem to indicate, he has at length sewi the error of his way, and re- * 
solved to amend his course, the Union-loving peoplfe of this country*/ 
will be profoundly thankful for the change. ' ''■[■' <'- '"'•''^•» "' ' ' •) 

But he can never repair the mischief which his complicity' With 
treason, attributable, it is to be hoped, more to the want of moral 
courage than to a corrupt heart, has inflicted upon the country. 

Let him now do the utmost in his power to retrieve this false step, 
and he will enlist in his behalf the sympathies of an immense majority 
of the American people. ^ 

Yours, very respectfully , 

' ALFRED ELY. 

To Aaron Erickson, ^aq.,. Rochester, N. Y. 

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